South Africa-Mozambique visas could be dropped

Travel between South Africa and Mozambique could soon become as simple as visiting a neighbour. Mozambican President Armando Guebuza will touch down in South Africa on Friday morning to attend a heads-of-state bilateral meeting in Pretoria.

Among the key agreements expected to be signed is the long-awaited agreement on the waiver of visa requirements for holders of ordinary passports.

This would put a stop to the long queues at Mozambican embassies around the country and the expense of visas - particularly for Mozambicans.

South Africa has been reluctant to drop the visa requirements, fearing that, without any control, an even larger number of Mozambicans would cross the border and remain in the country.

However, Mozambicans are a critical source of income for Nelspruit and, to a lesser extent, Durban, because many of them do monthly shopping across the border.

South Africa is Mozambique's largest foreign investor, with a combined total of R8-billion in projects invested in the country.

Among the big investments are the Sasol gas pipeline, SABMiller and Illovo.

By far the biggest projects are the aluminium smelter project, Mozal, and mining of titanium-bearing mineral sands in southern Mozambique.

The two-day heads-of-state meeting will assess the progress of projects in the fields of labour, migration, transport, communications, energy, the environment and tourism spatial development initiatives, trade and industry and agriculture.

Although South African exports to Mozambique have increased to more than R5-billion in the past year, Mozambique exports less than 10 percent of that amount to South Africa.